Denmark didn’t appear at the World Cup until 1986. That was when Denmark were coached by German Sepp Piontek and the team were nicknamed “Danish Dynamite” because of their adventurous and entertaining play. The first round was won with style, beating Scotland, Uruguay and Germany, before meeting Spain in the 1/8 final. A back pass by Jesper Olsen, who had scored from the penalty spot to put Denmark ahead, was intercepted by Butragueno, who equalized for Spain. His side then went on to beat Denmark 5-1. In 1998 Denmark reached the quarter-finals, losing narrowly to Brazil 2-3. The Laudrup brothers, Brian and Michael, were the star of that team. In 2002, Denmark won famously 2-0 against the reigning World Cup Champions France in the last group match before England stopped any further progress in the tournament, beating Denmark 3-0. After a one tournament absence, the Danes are back.

Strengths
Denmark have a strong and collective midfield which makes it hard for opponents to be able to play through the middle and get too close to the Danish penalty area. At the other end of the pitch it also means that the team have many options to get the ball into the opponents’ penalty area. Couple with this some wing threat, and there’s much scope for build-up play.

Star Men
Nicklas Bendtner (Arsenal, England)
Thomas Sorensen (Stoke City, England)
Jakob Poulsen (AGF Aarhus, Denmark)